Posts tagged “stokemonkey”  

Clever Cycles has stoked a Yuba Mundo and an Xtracycle Radish.

We'll check both of those next month when we're in Portland for another Mobile Social on May 20th.

Uploaded by cleverchimp | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Inclement weather doesn't stop Seattle's cargo bike crowd. Xtracycles, Big Dummies, Madsens and Bakfietsen are often present on these organized rides. So how does one stand out from the crowd? Here's one way, haul a rider in a recliner, or better yet, make your own custom trike with a Bimini Top to shield you from the rain. Do you have a crazy custom cargo bike? if so this is the ride for you.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Dapper Lad Cycles Photostream.

195 pounds of Clip-n-Seals en route to Canada. Delivered by cargo bike to the mail dispatch. Made possible by Big Dummy, Xtracycle, and Stokemonkey.

We just updated Bettie to 2.5 with the addition of the Stokemonkey — we did it with a one-time exclusive, Rolling Jackass mount and barrel-adjustable tensioner. Bettie 1.0 was stoked and when we built Bettie 2.0, we already had 2.5 planned. Our decision to make a Monkeymount was driven by back-to-school and getting the kids to and from schools. For those wondering, Stokemonkey status is best found on Clevercycle’s blog. At this time, according to the blog, they are not back on the market. We recommend Stokemonkey owners wait to hear from Clevercycles on the status of Big Dummy mounts and Stokemonkey retrofit kits.

The nice folks from Clever Cycles (who make the stokemonkey electric assist — Sure wish I could get one) went camping and touring up to Breitenbush Hot Springs, racking up some impressive stats along the way: Family of 3; 7 day trip; 193 miles, 2 longtail cargo bikes @ 150 lbs each; 12,000 feet of climbing and almost 12 mph the whole way. Even more impressive: a car would have to get 2,206 MPG to match the energy spent on the electrical assist.

Most impressive? Long distance, car free travel for a family. It’s unlikely that my fam will be doing this any time soon, but just having come back from 5 hrs in the van to get to the Goat Rocks the appeal of a few days trip on an electric assist bike is pretty strong. What’s your best bike/camping story of the summer (so far)?

Listen to the Bettie Grind, Stokemonkey music, and the sounds a Sport-Utility Bike makes in another Bike Hugger Bettie video. Download just the audio in .mp3.

Not nearly as surprising as seeing a Biomega in Design Within Reach, but today the New York Times ran a story on electric bikes. While good (any mainsteam coverage of bike commuting is good), the article missed the sport-utility bike market being built by companies like Clever Cycles, Xtracycle, Surly, and custom builders like Sycip and Vanilla.

We agree that cyclists are finding that bikes are, “a viable option for commuting, shopping and other local trips” especially with a long tail, rack, and motor assist.

As I noted in my Bettie Delivers post, if the attention the Bike Hugger Bettie gets is any indication of a national trend, we expect more cyclists to use their cars a lot less, if at all.

For more on electric bikes, check Electric Bikes Northwest ebikes.ca, a bike v. Prius, and Todd’s thougts on motors and bikes.

After a hiatus during the rainy season, Bettie is back running errands, commutes, and all around town. Speaking of Bettie, Todd updated his photostream with an experimental townie mount. Nice, as he said, “that’s a kinder, gentler, monkey.”

Bettie is a Bike Hugger project to build a sport-utility bike with a Karate Monkey 29-incher frame, Stokemonkey, and an Xtracycle. Bettie has an enormous carrying capacity, it’s heavy duty — 2 adults or an adult and 2 kids at a time — and is fun (really, really fun). The total Bettie download follows.

Switched the Stokemonkey setting to high-mode today on Bettie and flew up Admiral Way for a morning coffee run to Metropolitan Market. The high setting was like having an extra leg, Armstrong’s leg in fact, when you consider the Stokemonkey is putting out 430 watts at a cadence of 80!

I grabbed the coffee, more groceries, loaded Bettie’s FreeLoaders, and headed back home by way of Schooner Exact, where I tasted their latest pale ale. To make sure I condition the battery properly (as Todd told us), I flipped the switch back to low mode and cruised up the hills back home.

Todd, the inventor of the Stokemonkey says, “Your timely and appropriate shifting permits the motor to operate within a small band of powerful and efficient speeds at all times. This is key.”

As a roadie, I was reminded of that saying, “stay on top of the gear” and found Bettie’s sweet spot within a few minutes of riding. When the Stokemonkey bogged down a bit, I’d shift, and the motor assist would pick up speed again. After a few longer rides, I could tell how well the Stokemonkey was operating by the vibrations in the seat tube and also hear it cranking away. In the video, I’m rolling up a gently sloped, 5% grade hill.

That’s Bryan Rhoads and Todd Fahrner riding a Super Monkey, a sport utility bike built with a Surly Karate Monkey, Xtracycle and Stokemonkey electric motor assist. We’re building one of these up right now, as a Bike Hugger project, and will blog the whole thing this Fall.

For the bike geek, the Super Monkey is a 29 incher with 26 inch wheels. “What the?” you ask … details here and photos in our sport utility bike gallery.

I shared that look on Bryan’s face, likening it to taking a kid to the fair and putting them on the tea-pot ride for the first time, when I rode the Super Monkey. Besides the utility, it was just absolutely fun.

Xtracycle, who make it easy and fun for cyclists to meet all of their transportation needs, are promoting car-free vacations with a contest, tips, and evangelism. The contest is for 2 Xtracycle Free Radicals Hitchless Trailer Kits that’ll turn your bike into a Sport Utility Bike.

One of our Fall projects is the Bike Hugger Super Commuter and we’re going to post all about how we built it with an Xtracycle and Stokemonkey. From there a vacation is sure to follow, but not before we build up the Custom Carbon Davidson race bike.